Cricket Australia is ready to re-open investigation in the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal if provided with any new information, but David Saker, who was the bowling coach at the time of the incident three years back, was not sure if it would provide any different an outcome than the last time.
Cameron Bancroft’s comments suggesting that the team’s bowlers were aware of the ball-tampering tactics has stirred up the controversy once again. Bancroft, Steve Smith and David Warner were the ones who were punished by Cricket Australia.
Reaction to Bancroft’s revelation, CA, on Saturday, issued a statement saying: “CA has maintained all along that if anyone is in possession of new information in regards to the Cape Town Test of 2018 they should come forward and present it.
The investigation conducted at the time was detailed and comprehensive. Since then, no one has presented new information to CA that casts doubt on the investigation’s findings.”
Speaking on the possibility of the investigation being re-opened, Saker told Sydney Morning Herald: “I don’t think it’d be unfair. I just don’t know what they’re going to find out.”
Saker lamented the incident, drawing parallels with Trevor Chappell’s infamous underarm bowling against New Zealand, and said that the blot will forever remain on Australian cricket. “The disappointing thing is, it’s never going to go away. Regardless of what’s said. We all know that we made a monumental mistake. It’s like the underarm, it’s never going to go away,” he said.
The 54-year-old Victorian admitted that it could have been prevented and that fingers can also be pointed at him for not doing so. “Obviously a lot of things went wrong at that time. The finger-pointing is going to go on and on and on. You could point your finger at me, you could point your finger at Boof (then coach Darren Lehmann), could you point it at other people, of course you could,” he said.
About Bancroft’s comments, he said: “Cameron’s a very nice guy. He’s just doing it to get something off his chest ... He’s not going to be the last.”
